Vehicle chair unit

ABSTRACT

A vehicle chair has a pair of arms projecting rearwardly from the chair base, a pad pivotally supported on the rear of said arms for movement to a generally vertical position and to horizontal position forwardly and rearwardly of the pivot, and a spring normally biasing the pad to vertical position.

United States Patent Inventors Chester J. Bareeki Grand Rapids; Kenneth W. Hozeski, Grandville, both of Mich. Appl. No. 37,727 Filed May 15, 1970 Patented Jan. 4, 1972 Assignee American Seating Company Grand Rapids, Mich.

Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 792,031, Jan. 17, 1969. This application May 15, 1970, Ser. No. 37,727

VEHICLE CHAIR UNIT 4 Claims, 12 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 297/425, 297/429 Int. Cl A47c 7/54, B60n 3/06 501 FieldofSearch 297/425, 426, 433, 429-431 [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 740,966 10/1903 Wylie 297/438 2,591,598 4/1952 Vowler 297/425 3,462,194 8/1969 GlelOWetai 297/425 Primary ExaminerCasmir A. Nunberg Att0rneyDawson, Tilton, Fallon & Lungmus ABSTRACT: A vehicle chair has a pair of arms projecting rearwardly from the chair base, a pad pivotally supported on the rear of said arms for movement to a generally vertical position and to horizontal position forwardly and rearwardly of the pivot, and a spring nonnally biasing the pad to vertical position.

PAIENYEBJAN 4m 3I832ll$ man-m2 INVENTORS Chester J. Borecki Kenneth W. Hozeski BY @QLUGDIU, and: fill/7M ATTORNEYS PATENIEUJAI 41112 316321 9 SHEET 2 BF 2 INVENTORS Chester J. Barecki Kenneth W. Hozeski BY @awuovv, Jxltmv, Yallom W 7 ATTORNEYS VEHICLE CHAIR UNIT RELATED CASE This application is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Ser. No. 792,031 filed Jan. 17, 1969.

BACKGROUND and SUMMARY Vehicle chairs have been provided at their rear with footrests which may be folded away but which are not readily accommodated to passengers of varying height and the folding operation often requires substantial efforts.

We have discovered that a footrest can be provided in which the footpad is automatically adjusted to short or tall persons and the pad automatically folds when the rest is swung to stored position. The structure is shown in operative positions in FIGS. 1 and 3 and in considerable detail in FIGS. -12 inclusive.

DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated in conjunction wit a vehicle chair of the type in which the back and seat portions are so interconnected to the frame that raising of the seat will automatically bring the back to upright position, but it will be understood that the footrest structure herein may be used with any type of vehicle chair.

In the accompanying drawings;

FIG. 1 is a side view of a two-passenger chair unit, with the near seat and back up, the far seat and back in normal sitting position, while the dotted line shows one back fully reclined;

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view with the seats and backs in the same position as in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view, with the near footrest in the stored position, while the far footrest is ready for use;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the unit to show the difference in available standing space when seat and back are up;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the footrest in the normal position for use with dotted lines showing the forward position of the pad for tall people and the rearward position of the pad for shorter people;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the footrest in the normal stored position;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the footrest with the pad in neutral position;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but with the pad in the rearward position as used by a short person;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIGS. 7 and 8 but with the pad in the forward position, as used by a tall person;

FIG. 10 is a rear view of the pad in the neutral position with portions of the shell removed to show the opposite tension on the two springs;

FIG. 1 l is a fragmentary side view of the footrest; and

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of the footrest.

FOOTREST The action of the footrest is illustrated in FIGS. 5-12, When the footrest 48 is in the stored position as in FIG. 6, the pad 204 is forced down by the outer panel 110, but when the footrest 49 is turned down as in FIGS. 5 and 7, the pad is in a neutral position. The pad can be turned back for a short person as in FIG. 8 or forward as in FIG. 9 for a taller person.

The footrest 49 includes as the essential reinforcing element, an extruded member 206 (see particularly FIG. 12) which is enclosed in a shell 205. The pad which this develops is completed at the end by means of a right-hand end piece 207 and a left-hand end piece 208. The end pieces are secured to the reinforcement 206 by means of screws 209.

The pad thus assembled is disposed between a pair of anns 214 and 215 which are pivotally mounted on the frame 41. Each arm is somewhat L-shaped and at the end opposite the mountin on frame 41 is e uipped with an aperture for the receipt 0 a slotted shaft 21 two of WlllClI are provided. The

slotted shafts 210 are insleeved with springs 211 and 212 (see FIG. 10) and further equipped with bushings 213 which are received within the extruded reinforcement 206. Completing the assembly are stop pins 216 and stops 217 and 218 on the end pieces 207 and 208.

In the operation of the device, the stop pin 216 hits the rear stop 217 to halt the pad in its rearward turn and hits the forward stop 218 to end the forward motion of the pad. The return of the pad to its neutral position is achieved through the agency of the springs 211 and 212. These springs are identical but are installed oppositely. The spring 211 is arranged to bring the pad back from the rearward position of FIG. 8 and the spring 212 is arranged to bring the pad back from the forward position of FIG. 9. Each spring is turned so that it has 45 of tension so that when it is turned against itself it develops a maximum of of tension to bring the pad back to neutral, and when it is turned the other way it has a minus tension of 45 which makes it inactive, while the other spring is functioning. The springs are set with 45 tension to keep the pad rigid in the neutral position so that it will not wobble or be noisy.

While in the foregoing specification a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention has been set down for the purpose of illustration, many variations in the details herein given may be jade by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination with a chair having spaced rearwardly extending arms, a footpad having upper and lower foot-engaging surfaces extending between inner and outer ends, pivot means supporting said pad by its inner end upon said arms with the outer end of said pad remotely spaced from said pivot means at the inner end of said pad, and cooperating stop means on said arms and pad for limiting rearward pivotal movement of said pad to bring said outer end of said pad near said chair and forward movement of said pad near said chair and forward movement of said pad to move said outer end away from said chair, said arms being pivotally mounted upon said chair and being foldable upwardly to stored position.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which said pad is automatically folded when said arms are moved to stored position.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which spring means normally urge said pad to a generally vertical position upon said pivot means.

4. The structure of claim 3 in which said spring means consists of a coil spring at each end of said pivot means, one spring being biased to bring the pad back from the rearward position and the other spring being biased to bring the pad back from the forward position. 

1. In combination with a chair having spaced rearwardly extending arms, a footpad having upper and lower foot-engaging surfaces extending between inner and outer ends, pivot means supporting said pad by its inner end upon said arms with the outer end of said pad remotely spaced from said pivot means at the inner end of said pad, and cooperating stop means on said arms and pad for limiting rearward pivotal movement of said pad to bring said outer end of said pad near said chair and forward movement of said pad to move said outer end away from said chair, said arms being pivotally mounted upon said chair and being foldable upwardly to stored position.
 2. The structure of claim 1 in which said pad is automatically folded when said arms are moved to stored position.
 3. The structure of claim 1 in which spring means normally urge said pad to a generally vertical position upon said pivot means.
 4. The structure of claim 3 in which said spring means consists of a coil spring at each end of said pivot means, one spring being biased to bring the pad back from the rearward position and the other spring being biased to bring the pad back from the forward position. 